February 03, 2013

Hunting for signs of the Big Giant Cat

My son, Ryan, mentioned, oh- by the way, I saw that giant cat a couple weeks ago. A couple of weeks ago?? And he doesn't tell me right away? Dogs, cats, chickens, and KIDS have wandered around in danger?

He said at first he thought it was Twinkle's boyfriend, the neighbor's tall, tan, standard poodle. Then realized it walked different than a dog and took another look realizing it was a huge cat. The trappers had told us it might come back and that we should call them back if we saw signs.

I wanted to be sure, since it was NOT cheap to have them out to set traps last fall. We spent a few hundred dollars on catching oppossums, but no cat.

So, on a snowy day, Sugarwings and I bundled up to go hunting. We thought we might see footprints in the snow.

Our first step was to climb up high and look out over the valley and down the trail to make sure it wasn't waiting for us. We wanted to see footprints, not the cat itself! Since there were no leaves, and the trail was quite wide, we could see all the way to the highway. We didn't cross the creek to go deeper into the woods, we stayed on the big, open trail.

She carried a big stick and we made lots of noise. The cat seems to only be seen around dusk, so we figured mid day was a good time to look.

She decided that she would be a Knight in Shining Armour and the Big Giant Cat, or Bobbed Cat, as she calls it, was really a dragon. Her stick was a sword, and we were ready to search out the dragon's liar.

The snow was too spotty to show footprints. We didn't even see any prints from deer, and I know we have dozens of those out there. We did find poo, and I took some photos of it, so we could compare it to pictures of cat scat online. I'm sure you can imagine that part without me showing you the actual pictures.

We also found this tree, used as a scratching post. The marks are about chest high!!

After doing some research, we found this, which fit perfectly with what we saw:

Identify bobcat scat by noting its size, composition and
location. Bobcat scat ranges in size from about 2 to 6 inches in length
and is usually less than an inch in height. It is often but not always
segmented, and looks very similar to the feces of domesticated cats,
except that it is slightly larger. Bobcats tend to leave scat in the
middle of a road or trail or at an intersection or a turn in the trail.
It is believed they do this as a method of marking territory and
communicating with other animals.

Look for other possible signs made by bobcats. Bobcats will
sharpen their claws on trees, and claw marks can often be see in tree
bark. Bobcats will scrape dirt or snow over both their urine and feces.
Claw marks may be seen from this covering, as well as from when they
make scratches in the snow when rubbing their glands over an area to
mark territory.

It was quite an adventure for us, we had a lot of fun pretending to hunt dragons, but it was also educational as well as some imaginary game time. We learned to watch carefully for movement in the woods, and also to search the trail for signs of animals. We did see some raccoon prints, and talked about different animals and how to tell what they are by the tracks they leave behind. I also made her aware that the woods are full of creatures, even though it is our own Fairy Berry Trail, and we think of it as a play ground, it really belongs to the creatures that live there, not to us.

Looking up pictures online to compare to our photos was a good project for her too. I want her to respect the woods and the wildlife, and think about them as a place for animals to live, and not to run out there without an adult at her side.

Until we can get the trapper back out here, the woods are officially closed for play time. The chickens are on lock-down and the dogs don't leave the fence. No children can play outside without supervision.

I sure hope that Trapper Tom can help us out. Please wish us luck with this.

Sounds like you had a very educational experience with Miss Sugarwings, with a good dose of imagination thrown in! I really like that profile shot of Sugarwings with the shocked/surprised look on her face. Really pretty.

I hope you are able to catch the Bobcat. We had one come into our yard, at night, and drag our dog away. We had let her out to poop and heard her scream, but couldn't get there in time. She was a medium-size dog. The next morning my husband went looking and couldn't see any sign of where she was taken. It was very traumatic and tragic.